I thought, "What do I need to do today?" Then, from a reaction against the "You need to ..." syndrome, I thought, "What do I want to do today?"

From that, I moved quickly to, "What does my Lord want me to do today?"

I think I may get somewhere taking that line of thought.

This culled from a quotes list, citing George Macdonald (1824-1905).

"When I trouble myself over a trifle, even a trifle confessed -- the loss of some little article, say -- spurring my memory, and hunting the house, not from immediate need, but from dislike of loss; when a book has been borrowed of me and is not returned, and I have forgotten the borrower; and fret over the missing volume, . . . is it not time that I lost a few things, when I care for them so unreasonably? This losing of things is the mercy of God: it comes to teach us to let them go. Or have I forgotten a thought that came to me, which seemed of the truth? I keep trying and trying to call it back, feeling a poor man until that thought be recovered -- to be far more lost, perhaps, in a notebook into which I shall never look again to find it! I forget that it is live things that God cares about."

Here in my town, 100 km east of São Paulo, the celebration over Brazil's fifth World Cup championship has been happy but not dramatic. Nobody else has won so many. Is it old hat for the country?

U.S. liberal judges have again shown their colors pronouncing the Pledge of Allegiance un-American. For two words added in 1954, "under God," they would scuttle the ritual in the schools.

The saying of this pledge will not make Americans a more holy people. The U.S. was not chosen by God as a new Israel. The church of Jesus Christ holds that privilege and responsibility. But historically, the nation was founded on general Christian principles. Probably that explains much of its success among its sister nations. And the further it drifts from those principles, the weaker it will become and the more its citizens and government will displease the Creator.

If some child, teacher, or school administrator somewhere in the fifty states is reminded, during the repetition of the Pledge of Allegiance, that there is a God who not only exists but rewards those who seek him, it will be well worth dressing down some godless judges too big for the britches.

New computer, new direct hookup to the Internet. My life is changing a little, hopefully for the better. At least, some things are showing up quicker, and that's a plus. Maybe you'll even get a quicker response from me, reckon?